A thermal inkjet printer generally includes a printhead assembly having a memory component. The memory component stores information relating to characteristics of a print cartridge of the printhead assembly, such as information relating to pixel size, resolution, and security related data. The memory component communicates with an electronic controller of the inkjet printer to provide the stored information, relating to characteristics of the print cartridge, to the electronic controller. The electronic controller adjusts the operation of the thermal inkjet printer based on the characteristics of the print cartridge to ensure correct operation of the thermal inkjet printer.
The memory component is usually an Erasable Programmable Read-only Memory (EPROM) which is a non-volatile memory. The EPROM comprises numerous EPROM cells arranged in rows and columns of EPROM cells where each of the EPROM cells is programmable to store one bit of binary data, i.e., ‘0’ or ‘1’.